


Make Tonight a Wonderful Thing

by Dillian



Series: Springtime Exchange -- 2017 [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, M/M, dystopian au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 18:16:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10224164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dillian/pseuds/Dillian
Summary: Future time, when the US is an autocracy:  Tony's an expat, living off his wealth.  Steve's a dissident, risking his life every day, no matter where he goes.  And then there's the matter of Bucky...Picture Casablanca, only with more booze, and you'll have a pretty good idea how this one goes.  Hopefully you will enjoy reading it.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DaimeryanRei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaimeryanRei/gifts).



**_The Avengers_ , ** **_Iron Man_ , ** **_Thor_ , and ** **_Captain America_ , and all situations and characters thereof, belong strictly and solely to Marvel Comics.  This is a fan-work, meant for enjoyment only, and not for any material profit.**

“You don't have to say you love me just be close at hand.   
You don't have to stay forever I will understand,   
Believe me, believe me I can't help but love you,   
But believe me I'll never tie you down.   
Left alone with just a memory,   
Life seems dead and quite unreal   
All that's left is loneliness there's nothing left to feel.”   
\-- Dusty Springfield, “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”

“The Cuervo Gold,   
The fine Colombian,   
Make tonight a wonderful thing.”   
\-- Steely Dan, “Hey, Nineteen”

The first night after Steve gets there is always the best one.  New spring flowers, opening after the long cold winter kind of good; it’s eyes meeting, smiles spontaneously appearing, both of them wanting nothing but to fall into each others’ arms.  But it always ends.  This is a story about what that looks like:

“I brought you something.”  Steve shoves the bottle into Tony’s hands.  

“Maker’s Mark?”  Once upon a time Tony would have said, “You shouldn’t have.”  He tried that once; should have seen the look on Steve’s face, when he said it.  Now money’s one of the things they don’t talk about, along with America, and politics, and Bucky.

Give him a good smile instead, give him your best, really good smile.  “You know we can’t get real American bourbon here.”

And Steve smiles.  That shy, warm look he gets, that’s the only time you can still see the 98-pound weakling he used to be.  “Yeah, you’ve told me.”  He sits down.  “You going to crack that open?  What’s a guy got to do, to get a drink around here?”

Tony always cracks it open.  And he always pours.  First glass, it’s always just friendly.  “Have you seen Sam?”

“Yeah, he’s good.  Private-sector now, he can still say whatever he wants, practically…”  Don’t talk about what that “practically” means, don’t mention the good government job that Sam had, back before the gag-rule and the budget-cuts.  And, “How about Pepper?” Steve asks Tony.

Reply, “Oh, she’s great, great.”  Talk about the two kids she’s had with Happy; Steve loves kids, he should be a dad himself…

Quick, better change the subject, before you start thinking about why Steve’s not a dad.  Don’t talk about Natasha, who said she’d do it for him, back when he was still with Bucky.  Where is Bucky now?  He’s gone into hiding…  Also, don’t talk about how if he surfaced again even for a second, Tony knows Steve would go back to him, just like iron filings to a magnet.

_ So _ many things you can’t talk about.  It’s funny, but at first, they only make the sex better.  Two glasses in:  It always takes about two glasses, because they both have to get their guards down.  And Steve has to forget that Tony defended the President at first, and Tony has to forget about Bucky.

Two glasses in:  “It’s hot here, Steve, shouldn’t you take off some of those uncomfortable clothes?”

Off comes the coat...  Threadbare coat.  Off comes the tie, and the yellowed shirt.  Those clothes don’t belong on Steve, he should always be naked, and perfect, like a Greek statue.  Off come the shoes, so sad, and worn, and old-looking.  Off comes a pair of socks with holes in both of them… -- Quick mental note:  Ask Jarvis to mend those, before Steve leaves. -- Off come some pants that have seen better days, and then there he is, naked, standing there in all his glory and splendor.

He is pretty splendid.

Tony’s naked too, by this point.  Chest shrapnel-scarred, arms muscled from too many workouts, and not enough work, now that China’s feeding Mexico with all the arms it needs.  Offer after offer, “I can build you better tech.”  Answer’s always, “No, gracias seňor Stark.”  Mexico needs allies, more than it needs tech, and Tony’s poison, still too many ties with America.

...That’s depressing.  Back to Steve:  Who is pretty splendid (see above).

Bare-ass naked, curl of golden fuzz, surrounding the impressive hardon.  “You do it on purpose, don’t you?” Tony says.

Steve looks at him with that aw-shucks expression.  “What’s that, Tony?”

What, indeed?  Funny how all the words always go away in situations like this.  “You…”  Bedroom’s just through the door, off the veranda.  “You and that…  That body…”  Bedroom, that smells so fresh, from when the windows were open earlier in the day, before it got too hot.  Bed, with the clean white sheets, bedspread, always smoothed over the top, so perfect.  And you pull that down…  Steve looks so perfect, against the white sheets.  Michelangelo-painting, half finished, like he put the man on there, forgot to add the background.  And he’s Tony’s to touch right now, all of him, every single perfect Steve-inch.  “Mmm, I want that body of yours, Steve.”

And aww-shucks expression.  “I know, I want you too.” And then for a while it’s just like it should be.  All those muscles are his, like they should be, and don’t let’s forget the hardon, and  that perfect, so-kissable mouth.  And after that you just don’t have to think about stuff.  And the government Steve’s fighting so hard?  Gone.  Also the laws he faces every time he goes back there are gone, and the risks he’s taking, every single goddamn day.

Sometimes they end up talking about the risks, and that’s what ruins it.  Sometimes it’s other things.

Sooner or later, the Maker’s Mark always runs out.  And Hilda has to get in and change the sheets on the bed, or there are phone calls, or it’s one thing or another.  It’s always something, because you can’t block out real life forever.

Maybe it’s a newspaper.  Maybe Hilda was reading one…  Everyone knows Seňor Stark doesn’t read newspapers, but you know, you can’t forbid other people from reading them.  Maybe she had one in her back pocket, and it fell out, and Steve just happened to pick it up.

Some such depressing headline or another.  Maybe an election’s been cancelled…  Like the elections there even matter anymore?  President loses by three million votes the first time, but he got in anyway.  Second time the numbers said he’d lost by five million, and after that everyone just stopped counting.  And they stopped paying attention to who was being deported for no reason, and who was burning whose places of worship.  Nothing’s being done about it, no reason to pay attention, at least that’s Tony’s opinion.  But maybe there’s that newspaper, and maybe it forces them to remember that Steve still cares.

Maybe that’s it, or maybe it’s just a mention of Bucky. -- There is  _ always _ a mention of Bucky. -- Sitting at the kitchen table, with a cherry pie in between them.  Steve doesn’t eat right, when he’s in America.  How can he?  Steve’s got no money.  Mother-hen impulse that he doesn‘t feel with anyone else:  Steve visits, and Tony always has to feed him.  American food, cherry pie,  _ bistek _ ,  _ hamburguesas _ .  Oh, and don’t forget the  _ papas fritas _ .  Steve loves  _ papas fritas _ .  And maybe they’re sitting there eating American food, and maybe that’s when it happens.

“I’ve got a lead on where Bucky is.”  Steve always has to say it.

And Tony will try to be polite, and he’ll try to pretend it doesn’t matter.  “Oh yeah?” he’ll say.  “I’m glad.”

All it takes:  One word about the Buckster, and bang, there’s a wall between them.  Wall like the new one on the border, big and ugly, dividing things that shouldn’t be divided.  America and Mexico?  Historic friends.  And Steve and Tony?  Oh god, oh god, they should be more than friends, and they were more than friends, once upon a time, for a very short, short while.

And what are they now?  Who even knows?

Is Steve going to tell Bucky about Tony, if he ever manages to find him?  Will he talk about what they do together, and what will El Buck-o think about that?  God, depressing thoughts, god, why even think about it?  And now there’s no Maker’s Mark left, and the cherry pie is all gone, and Steve is leaving again now, just like he always leaves.

“Don’t get yourself killed out there,” Tony tells him.  Light words to mask the fear of what might really happen.

“Me?”  Steve’s grin is like sunlight, on a winter day.  “You know me, Tony, I’m invulnerable.”

And one more hug, and it’s a tight one, as if they’re both try to block everything out.  Which is because they are.

“Booze is on me next time,” Tony says.  “Cuervo Gran Reserva, the best you can get.”

And Steve gives him one more of those aww-shucks grins, and then he’s gone.   _ Please god that he survives, and comes back again. _


End file.
